Justice Department Special Counsel David Weiss announced Thursday that a former FBI informant was charged with “making a false statement … and creating a false and fictitious record” for statements reportedly made about President Joe Biden and his family’s business dealings, changing what were “routine and unextraordinary” contact with executives into “bribery allegations against” Biden.
Alexander Smirnov, 43, was charged with one count of making a false statement and one count of ... [+]
Alexander Smirnov, 43, was charged and arrested at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on Thursday.
The indictment alleges Smirnov “provided false and derogatory information to the FBI” about “Public Official 1” and “Businessperson 1,” who multiple outlets have identified as Joe and Hunter Biden, after Biden became a presidential candidate in 2020.
Smirnov falsely testified in 2020 that executives associated with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate, said on a call in 2015 or 2016 that they hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,” and that they had paid $5 million to each Biden as a bribe while Joe Biden was still serving as vice president, according to the indictment.
Weiss said in the indictment, however, that Smirnov actually only spoke to the executives after Biden had left office in 2017 when he had “no ability to influence U.S. policy and after the Ukrainian Prosecutor General had been fired.”
Smirnov’s initial appearance in court is expected at the federal courthouse in the District of Nevada at 5:30 p.m. EST.
- That’s the maximum number of years in prison Smirnov could face if convicted, according to the special counsel’s office.